Adaptive Power Could Be the Best Low-Key iOS 26 Feature for Your iPhone's Battery

CNET

2 days ago

If you've installed the newest iOS 26 public beta or developer beta, you may be able to get a jump on an upcoming feature that might deliver long-term benefits. Adaptive Power is a setting designed to extend battery power by selectively saving energy in small ways that add up. In fact, I'm looking forward to turning it on and forgetting about it. If you're (rightly) cautious about installing betas, it's something to anticipate when iOS 26 comes out in the fall. Let's look closer at how this tiny preference could extend your iPhone's battery life.
See also: Adaptive Power in iOS 26 Could Save the iPhone 17 Air From This Major Pitfall
Currently, the iPhone uses as much power as it needs to perform its tasks. You can extend the battery life by doing a number of things, such as decreasing screen brightness and turning off the always-on display. Or, if your battery level is starting to get dire, you can activate Low Power Mode, which reduces background activity like fetching mail and downloading data in addition to those screen adjustments. Low Power Mode also kicks in automatically when the battery level reaches 20%.
If Low Power Mode is the hammer that knocks down power consumption, Adaptive Power is the scalpel that intelligently trims energy savings here and there as needed. Based on Apple's description that accompanies the control, the savings will be felt mostly in power-hungry situations such as recording videos, editing photos or perhaps even playing games:
"When your battery usage is higher than usual, iPhone can make small performance adjustments to extend your battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to take a little longer. Low Power Mode may turn on at 20%."
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How to turn adaptive power on
Adaptive Power is not on by default and you'll need to opt-in to use it. In iOS 26, you'll find the Adaptive Power toggle in Settings > Battery > Power Mode.
In iOS 26, turn on the Adaptive Power option to help extend battery life. (IOS 26 developer build shown here.)
Screenshot by Patrick Holland/CNET
Since Adaptive Power appears to be using AI in deciding which settings and processes to adjust, I suspect the feature will be available on iPhone models that support Apple Intelligence, which include the iPhone 15 Pro and later. A Reddit thread about Adaptive Power suggests this is the case, with commenters noting it does not show up in iPhone 13 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro models with the beta installed.
Adaptive Power sounds like an outgrowth of Gaming Mode, introduced in iOS 18, which routes all available processing and graphics power to the frontmost app and pauses other processes in order to deliver the best experience possible -- at the notable expense of battery life.
What does this mean for your charging habits?
Although we all want as much battery life as possible all the time, judging by the description it sounds as if Adaptive Power's optimizations will not always be active, even if you leave the feature on. "When your battery usage is higher than usual" could include a limited number of situations. Still, considering that according to a CNET survey 61% of people upgrade their phones because of battery life, a feature such as Adaptive Power could extend the longevity of their phones just by updating to iOS 26.
I also wonder whether slightly adjusting display brightness could be disruptive. But because the feature is also selectively de-prioritizing processing tasks, it suggests that the outward effects will be minimal.
We'll know more about how well Adaptive Power works as the iOS 26 beta program nears the expected release date in September or October -- battery optimizations are often the last tweaks to be made to operating systems in development just before shipping. If you want to start giving iOS 26 a spin, you can download the first public beta now. Just remember that beta software carries risks, especially these first iterations that have recently been set loose from Apple's labs.